"Me and My Friends" is a live-action pilot that was filmed at Nickelodeon Studios Florida in September 1998. The pilot's concept was later reworked into The Backyardigans. CharactersPlotThe plot featured Uniqua, Pablo, Tyrone, and Tasha having adventures in an early version of the backyard. ProductionThe characters were designed by illustrator Dan Yaccarino. Costume designer and developer Yvette Helin in New York worked with her team and sculptor Sal Denaro to realize the two-dimensional characters into life size walk-around character costumes. Yaccarino was a supervisor for the costume-building process. Yugi Yashimoto and Dann Quinn were hired to realize the head sculpts full size and engineer various remote control effects such as moving eyes and mouths. TitleThe title "Me and My Friends" means the story was likely told from a specific character's point of view (since it uses "me/my"). Interviews with the show's creator, Janice Burgess, suggest that "Me" refers to Uniqua, who was based on Janice herself. "My Friends" refers to the rest of the Backyardigans, who were inspired by Janice's friends growing up.
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